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North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack while on a train trip, state media reported Monday, sparking immediate concern over who is in control of the reclusive state and its nuclear program.
A tearful television announcer dressed in black said the 69-year old had died Saturday of physical and mental over-work on his way to give “field guidance.”
He had suffered a stroke in 2008, but appeared to have recovered. North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said he died at 8:30 a.m. Saturday (6:30 p.m. EST on Friday) after “an advanced acute myocardial infarction, complicated with a serious heart shock.”
South Korea, still technically at war with the North, placed its troops and all government workers on emergency alert, Yonhap news agency reported. But Seoul’s Defense Ministry said there were no signs of any unusual North Korean troop movements.
“Up until tonight, if anybody had asked you what would be the most likely scenario under which the North Korean regime could collapse, the answer would be the sudden death of Kim Jong-il,” said Victor Cha, a Korea expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank in Washington.
“And so I think right now we’re in that scenario and we don’t know how it’s going to turn out.”
"Reblogged from inothernews
Reuters, “North Korea Leader Kim Jong Il Is Dead.”
Watch for video of sincerely tearful North Koreans lining the roads in Pyongyang next in false deference to their dear leader. That’ll be for like a week or so. Then, God willing, that whole regime starts falling apart bit by bit until Kim Jong Un and his ilk die the fuck off.
(via inothernews)
